Three coaches tell high school sophomores how to get Division I soccer scholarships: get noticed early, build relationships with coaches over years not one email, and show genuine interest in schools starting now. Waiting until senior year often closes the door at top programs.
The best 3 pieces of advice I would give a sophomore if I wanted to play college soccer at the Division I level. Number 1 is if the coaches can see you sophomore year, you are still in the category of quote unquote young.
Many of you have probably heard of Yamine Lamal.
He is incredible. What makes him so incredible is he is young. He's 17 and he's the best player on Barcelona. When he's 26 and the best player on Barcelona, he's not going to be that special. He's just another player. The fact that you are younger, freshman, sophomore year, and you're one of the best at the ID camp, potential always leads the imagination to greatness. So you want to show them, if you're a high-level player, how great you are at a younger age.
Starting at junior year when you're 26 in the normal pro world is not special if you're good. You're just a normal player like everybody else. Number 2, you guys think that you send one email they'll like your video and they'll come to your showcase. That is insane. You need to create a repertoire of a relationship before they'll actually come to a game. So coaches say, email me your schedule and I'll come to your game. What they're really saying is I needed to have been communicating with you for many years to then want to come to your game and sit at your showcase in the heat when I'm thirsty and I'm hungry and you're probably not gonna play or you're probably not gonna touch a ball, but I'm gonna sit there and watch you anyways because I'm so curious because we've developed a relationship. It takes a long time to develop a relationship to them to actually come and sit and watch your game. Number 3, the coaches are way more likely to make you a scholarship offer or an offer sooner if they know that you love their school. And so if you start junior year, all they're gonna go is, oh, they're starting the recruiting process, I don't have a relationship yet, let me build it over time. All of a sudden you're a senior and at that point the top academic schools are basically done recruiting and you've missed the boat. Whereas if you'd started say sophomore year, now You get a relationship with them for a year. The coaches know that you like the school, that your emails are actually genuine, and then they go, wow, you actually did your, they actually did your homework and you know about me as a coach, you know about my school, you know about the majors, and because of all that, I now want to make you an offer. If you want more help playing Call Talker, give me a call, link's in the bio.
Bye.
